Mr. West

"Miss Evans, Mr. West would like to see you in his office" my eyes shifted from my cup of ice to the women standing beside me.

A crooked smile rested on her face when she was aware of my notice. She held her pen close to the ends of her dress while her hands gripped closed, waiting for my response.

My jaws are full of ice, and it would be foolish of me to attempt a conversation in this condition, so I simply nod while sending her back a smile.

She exits the room, and I finish crunching on the remaining ice in my mouth while emptying the rest in the sink and tossing the cup into the trash. I detach a paper towel and dab the moisture away from my lips.

I find it strange to be still considered 'Miss Evans' After being employed here for almost two months now; I'd prefer being acknowledged by my first name rather than my last.

I wasn't precisely as shocked by the people I still wasn't familiar with calling me by my last name. Still, the people I've grown close to and built a friendship with- it was odd and made me a bit uncomfortable, especially since I'd asked them to refer to me as Mia multiple times.

I make my way through the double sliding doors and into the hallway towards the direction of Mr. West's office. I can say Mr. West is one of the few people I hadn't built a relationship with; after the friendly conversation we shared at the cafe, he went right back to his dominant ways, and he hadn't uttered a word to me since.

'I know I'm continuously calling him Mr. West even when he told me to call him Arden, but about two weeks ago, I called him Arden, and he gave me a death stare.... never again.'

He'd just call me into his office when he needed things, mostly only ordering me around. I've gotten pretty used to his distance over time since my first day when everyone warned me of his arrogance and absence and just to do as told.

I took in their words, wanting my first experience at a job to go according and to look good on my record. After a few slip-ups and getting things mixed up, I've gotten pretty good at it; it wasn't hard to just grab a few coffees now and then, set up interviews, or even run to get him to lunch instead of getting food here. I find it very satisfying to stay in a routine, and it is one of the most accessible jobs in the building.

I approach the massive brown door that hides West's office just on the other side of it. This door brings me back to the first time I reached it. I always feel uneasy when I place my knuckles against the cold wood, hoping I don't embarrass myself as I did in my first interview.

I leave a gentle knock on the door and wrap my fingers around the knob, waiting on his approval for me to enter.

"Come in" his voice is cold and smooth; I reluctantly wanted to turn around and charge back to my desk, pretending no one ever came to get me.

I twist my hand on the knob, and it pushes open, revealing the sunlight through his sky-scraping windows with him sitting silently at his desk in the middle of the room.

As always, he doesn't acknowledge me; he just sits there with his pen gliding against his piece of paper and stopping ever so often to slide the head of the pen between his teeth.

The cool air wraps around me as I take a step into the room; after nearly two months of working here, I still can't go a day without shivering when I enter his office.

I push the door close behind me and make my way towards his desk; at the sound of my footsteps nearing him; he lifts his head with the pen still clutched between his teeth, causing me to stop dead in my tracks. His hand rests on the end of the pen as he looks at me through his glasses.

He stares at me for a second with his jaw clenched together before his eyes slightly slid down to observe the rest of me. Once his eyes find their way back to mine, he pulls the pen from between his teeth, and I remain cold in my shoes, causing him to muster up a manly smile.

I stare back at him with my lips nearly parted, wholly taken aback. This was the first time he looked at me, let alone smiled at me. He hadn't even attempted to notice my presence until now.

He finally decided to break the silence with a chuckle exposing his dimple, "I was going to let you know you didn't need to bring me any coffee today, but I see you weren't exactly planning to do so."

His eyes focused on my hands, and I quickly turned around as realization hit me, "I'm so very sorry, sir, I don't know what's wrong with me today-" I tried to explain myself the best way possible as I began to exit the office.

I suddenly hear him rustle to his feet, causing me to turn around to me his gaze as he cuts me off, "I said it was fine, Miss Evans. I wanted to talk to you about that always," he says confidently.

Narrowing my eyebrows, I swallow before I answer, "What is it?"

"Would you like to get lunch with me today?" He looks at me through the frames of his glasses, his eyes still glowing a forest green.

I paused for a moment, wondering what the hell was going on.

His smile slowly begins to fade as I'm sure he assumed id deny it, so I fought myself to give out an answer, "Uh, sure, I guess" I smile uncomfortably at his actions while nodding my head in the process.

———-

The usual ring echoes through the cafe as we make our way into the shop. Searching for an empty booth since it was actively busy today, I catch sight of the booth Kelli and I would generally lounge for hours in at the far right of the cafe.

I look back at Mr. West as he scans the left side of the cafe; I turn back in the other direction to make my way towards the booth, assuming he'd notice me leaving and will follow me, but I feel a strong hand grab onto my wrist, and I'm pulled gently away.

I turn to be facing West, the back of him, as he leads me over to the booth, he just recently noticed. I catch sight of his figure from behind; his muscles tense up through his buttoned-up white shirt as if he was visibly flexing. His large dragon tattoo comes into view as he moves swiftly to his seat, and I sit on the opposite side.

"You okay?" West asks as he gestures his hand towards his lower lips.

I feel the heat rush up to my cheekbones, and I quickly let loose of my bottom lip. I must have been too distracted by him that I hadn't noticed I was fawning out loud over his handsome looks.

I simply nod as a response to his question, and he lets out a soft chuckle.

"I'm sorry if I made this a bit weird; my grandfather occasionally took his assistants out for lunch as a thank you for all their work" he tries to ease my discomfort.

If anyone's making it weird, it'd be me.

"Oh no, Mr. West, it's fine; I appreciate it" I give him a reassuring smile with a simple shrug.

He lets out yet another chuckle but adds a shake to his head, "Just call me Arden."

"Like I'd risk that again. No, thank you."

He looks back up at me with a look of confusion as he rubs onto his knuckles before his response, "What?"

I'm surprised he hadn't remembered what happened last time I called him by his name. I was bringing him a coffee one of the mornings, and I was feeling bright and energetic when I decided to engage in a conversation with him; while calling him by his first name, he shot me a death stare like I just threatened his entire career.

"You looked at me like you wanted to call me out. I honestly got scared" I laugh sarcastically, waving it off as if it wasn't that serious, but he wasn't buying it.

He shakes his head and looks at me, "my intentions were never to intimidate you or make you feel uncomfortable," he says, concern washing over his soft green eyes.

He leans in to catch more of my attention as he began to finish his sentence, "I like to stay professional while working, so I prefer to be known by my last name, but outside work, I'm just Arden."

I give him a soft smile and nod, "understood."

I lean back into my chair and shift my head towards the side as I let my mind roam into a pile of built-in thoughts while Arden continues with the conversation.

Honestly, what made me more uncomfortable than all this was that he still tries to push that night to the back of his mind, like we hadn't shared a moment of intimacy, and it wouldn't affect me. I know Kelli said that 'it's a one-night stand and should stay that way,' but it was like my first time, and I feel so insecure about it, mainly because I can't remember shit about it, and he wasn't making things any better for my confidence.

He can just sit there while looking at me and laugh like the interview was the first time we met or like we weren't more than familiar with each other. Is it even possible that he can just not remember me? I mean, he probably has slept with multiple women, and I'm one of them.

Hell no, I look the same every day, so it's impossible to miss me.

Maybe he was already drunk before he approached me...

Fuck that, he wasn't even buzzed, and I know drunk when I see it.

"Mia, did you hear me?" I break free from my thoughts, and I look back at Arden as he speaks.

"Uh, what did you say?" I say anxiously. I hate when it's noticeable that I'm lost in my thoughts, and I let everything fade away.

"I said I'm heading to get some coffee now. Did you want anything?" He replies like he hadn't noticed me trailing off.

I take a moment to think before parting my lips to speak, "A hot chocolate is fine" I smile as he stands to his feet. I hadn't wanted him to know my correct order; it was a bit much, so I decided to keep it simple.

"And a turkey pesto," I add, and he laughs, causing my cheeks to burn.

"Is there anything else?" He continues to let out a goofy chuckle, and I shake my head quickly, wanting him to walk away before my awkward blush becomes more visible.

He simply nods and jogs up to the counter. I breathe out a long breath of air that felt like I had been holding it for forever.

I hate the fact that he seems too nice of a guy for me to despise; he has a charming smile and a bright personality, except when he's working, but I understood the change in his actions when he's working. Everyone wants to keep a professional look at the job, and for him, he owns an entire company; if he ever slips up, people would look at him differently like most of the CEOs I've heard about that somehow cracked, showed their true colors.

Though every kind and gentle CEO hadn't fucked some girl on a desperate night and act like she didn't even exist afterwards. This was bothering me mentally and physically more than it should have, and I don't know what to do about it.

I continue to contemplate the whole situation; I don't even know if talking to him about it will be such a good idea for my position. I don't want to make my job as his assistant weirder than I was already making it or even lose this great opportunity.

If I try to mention this to him at his job since now was not the time I felt comfortable and mostly would be the only time I would see him outside of work, he'd probably get called out for sleeping with one of his employees, and everyone would think he's playing favoritism. I'd probably end up being fired.

Which was not in my best interest.